A new 10-part podcast series from California public radio mainstay KCRW celebrates ’80s college-rock era host Deirdre O’Donoghue and her archive of in-studio performances.

In a move meant “to help lift spirits during lockdown,” XTC’s Andy Partridge has released a free digital track called “Cavegirl” — a demo for a song intended for an “aborted bubblegum sampler album” that was to have been a best-of compiling tracks from “the mythical American bubblegum label Hercules.”

Matthew Seligman, the highly inventive bassist for The Soft Boys who went on to record with Thomas Dolby, Thompson Twins, The Waterboys, Peter Murphy, Morrissey and more, and who played with David Bowie at Live Aid, died Friday after being in a coma for two weeks with COVID-19, his longtime friend Dolby announced,

Bill Rieflin, the thunderous drummer who made his name in Chicago’s late-’80s/early-’90s industrial scene pounding out beats for Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pigface and more before manning the kit for R.E.M. over the last eight years of that band’s career, died on Tuesday of cancer, according to former bandmates. He was 59.

On the heels of their just-released Planet England EP, master songwriters Andy Partridge of XTC and Robyn Hitchcock are back at work on new music, according to a post by Hitchcock on Instagram, and are hoping this project won’t take a dozen years like the last one. Details right here.

This is a round-up of the week’s new albums, expanded reissues and/or box sets, appearing each Monday on Slicing Up Eyeballs. All releases due out this Friday unless noted. May also include some other titles released in recent weeks but not previously featured. Releases from The Cult, Pixies, INXS, Rain Parade and more.

Songwriting greats Andy Partridge of XTC and Robyn Hitchcock next month will release a four-song EP that Hitchcock says “began in his shed in Swindon in 2006” and is now finished after the two re-teamed last year to write one final song. Full details on the project right here.